As soon as he turned around, he did tell our firefighters he did feel he was in emergency conditions, Brockus said about the pilot, and the firefighters declared an Alert 1, the lowest level, and brought other mutual-aid partners in to be on standby. We rolled out trucks as a precaution.

The firefighters said the landing visually appeared normal, but Ivey said it didnt feel that way.

He said the landing was really rough and turbulent, Christie Ivey said about her husbands phone call. He said it felt like the pilot couldnt use the rudder, like he was having to steer with the flaps.

Brockus said the standby ambulance and firetruck didnt even make it to the airport before they were called off.

Passengers waited at the airport for more than five hours for a new plane, eventually departing at 6:45 p.m.